H5208 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE July 25, 2012 

in 1929, we started our greatest depression. I think we have had more recessions and more downturns in the economy since the Federal Reserve was created than we ever had in the entire history of our country before that system 

was created. 

I’m not saying that it is a bad system 

or that it’s wrong to have some type of 

Federal Reserve system, but it certainly is one that deserves more attention from the Congress. And surely, it 

is one that has too much secrecy and 

too much power in this day, and at 

least the Congress needs to look into it 

more than it has since that system and 

that board was created. 

f 

RECESS 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 12(a) of rule I, the Chair 

declares the House in recess until noon 

today. 

Accordingly (at 10 o’clock and 45 

minutes a.m.), the House stood in recess. 

f 

b 1200 

AFTER RECESS 

The recess having expired, the House 

was called to order by the Speaker at 

noon. 

f 

PRAYER 

The Chaplain, the Reverend Patrick 

J. Conroy, offered the following prayer: 

We give You thanks, O God, for giving us another day. 

As we begin the 15th year since that 

terrible day, we ask Your blessing once 

again upon the families of Officer 

Jacob Chestnut and Detective John 

Gibson. We ask as well Your protection 

for the entire Capitol Police corps, who 

mourn the loss of their brothers in uniform. Thank You for calling them all 

to their lives of service. 

Please hear our prayers for the Members of this assembly upon whom the 

authority of government is given. Help 

them to understand the tremendous responsibility they have to represent 

both their constituencies and the people of this great Nation of ours. This is 

a great but complex task. Grant them 

as well the gift of wisdom to sort 

through what competing interests 

might exist to work a solution that can 

best serve all of the American people. 

Finally, give each Member peace and 

equanimity. And give all Americans 

generosity of heart to understand that 

governance is not simple, but difficult 

work, at times requiring sacrifice and 

forbearance. 

May all that is done within the people’s House this day be for Your greater honor and glory. 

Amen. 

f 

THE JOURNAL 

The SPEAKER. The Chair has examined the Journal of the last day’s proceedings and announces to the House 

his approval thereof. 

Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved. 

f 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 

The SPEAKER. Will the gentleman 

from North Carolina (Mr. MCINTYRE) 

come forward and lead the House in the 

Pledge of Allegiance. 

Mr. MCINTYRE led the Pledge of Allegiance as follows: 

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the 

United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 

f 

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER 

The SPEAKER. The Chair will entertain up to 15 requests for 1-minute 

speeches on each side of the aisle. 

f 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS HAVE 

ACTED, PRESIDENT REMAINS 

AWOL ON SEQUESTRATION 

(Mr. WILSON of South Carolina 

asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. 

Speaker, defense sequestration is a 

very real danger that will threaten our 

national security, put our brave men 

and women in uniform at risk, and destroy up to 1 million jobs across our 

country. Sadly, the President avoids 

action on this extremely important 

issue. 

House Armed Services Committee 

Chairman BUCK MCKEON has recently 

been quoted in Politico saying: 

We’re overdue for guidance from the administration on how they interpret the law 

and plan to implement sequestration mechanically. 

Last May, House Republicans voted 

to prevent sequestration by passing 

legislation which replaces these drastic 

defense cuts while maintaining a 

strong national defense. Additionally, 

one week ago today, the House passed 

the Sequestration Transparency Act 

with an overwhelming bipartisan vote 

of 414–2, which holds the administration accountable for these cuts. I urge 

the President and Senate to act before 

it’s too late and hundreds of thousands 

of hardworking Americans lose their 

jobs. 

In conclusion, God bless our troops, 

and we will never forget September the 

11th in the global war on terrorism. 

f 

IT’S TIME TO HOLD FEDERAL 

RESERVE ACCOUNTABLE 

(Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. KUCINICH. On a day Congress 

will decide whether to audit the Fed, 

The Washington Post reports that the 

New York Fed ‘‘did not communicate 

in key meetings with top regulators 

that British bank Barclays had admitted to Fed staffers that it was rigging 

Libor,’’ the index which sets interest 

rates worldwide. 

The Fed wants to be spared a full 

audit. They want monetary deliberations private. Then they use that privacy shield to keep irregularities from 

regulators and from congressional 

view, exposing investors and consumers 

to massive losses. 

Of course the Fed wants to continue 

a system where there is no transparency, no accountability, where they 

can cover up manipulations of markets 

and interest rates. But should we endorse this system? When things fall 

apart, who do the banks come to clean 

up the mess? Congress. 

The Fed creates trillions of dollars 

out of nothing and gives it to banks; 

Congress is in the dark. The Fed sets 

the stage for the subprime meltdown; 

Congress is in the dark. The Fed takes 

a dive on Libor; Congress is in the 

dark. The Fed doesn’t tell regulators 

what’s going on; Congress is in the 

dark. 

It’s time to bring the Fed into the 

sunshine of accountability. Vote for 

the audit. 

f 

NIGERIAN TERRORISM 

(Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, I rise 

today to bring attention to recent attacks by the Boko Haram terrorist 

group in Nigeria. Attacks in Nigeria’s 

Plateau state on July 7 and 8 left 198 

families displaced, 88 people dead, and 

187 houses burnt. 

On July 8, during the mass funeral 

for the victims, they were attacked. 

Two serving members of the National 

Assembly—Gyan Dantong and Gyang 

Danfulani—were also killed. Boko 

Haram took credit for the attacks, 

stating in their release that Christians 

‘‘will not know peace again’’ if they do 

not accept Islam. 

Madam Speaker, these attacks are 

acts of terrorism performed by a terrorist group against innocent Christians. It’s time the State Department 

labels Boko Haram for what it is—a 

foreign terrorist organization. We must 

not be afraid to identify and confront 

attacks of terrorism wherever they 

might be. 

Our prayers are with the innocent 

victims as they mourn the loss of their 

loved ones. 

f 

FLIGHT SAFETY AND PILOT 

TRAINING SAFETY REFORMS 

FROZEN 

(Ms. HOCHUL asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend her remarks.) 

Ms. HOCHUL. Madam Speaker, on 

February 12, 2009, Flight 3407 crashed 

into a house in my district, killing all 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with HOUSE
July 25, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H5209 

the passengers and an individual in his 

home. Out of that devastation, there 

was a spirit that actually united this 

Congress in enacting flight safety and 

pilot training rules that would have 

prevented the crash. The families never 

gave up and are eagerly awaiting the 

final implementation of those potentially life-saving rules. 

Sounds like a happy ending, doesn’t 

it? And yet this week, because the 

House Rules Committee refused to 

allow my amendment to protect those 

specific rules, we are at risk of losing 

all those hard-fought, bipartisan safety 

reforms. 

With the so-called ‘‘Regulatory 

Freeze Act,’’ these reforms would simply die. Some who voted for them in 

the past now call them job killing. I 

call them people saving. 

Listen, I know we need to end overburdensome regulations on small business and farmers—I get it. But there’s 

a commonsense way to do it. But to 

freeze all government regulations—all 

of them—regardless of the health and 

safety of our citizens is over the top 

even for this town. This only proves 

that Washington is broken and we need 

to fix it. This country deserves a better 

Congress. 

f 

MOUNTAIN HOME BOMB SQUAD 

GLOBAL WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP 

(Mr. CRAWFORD asked and was 

given permission to address the House 

for 1 minute.) 

Mr. CRAWFORD. Madam Speaker, I 

rise today to recognize the Mountain 

Home AAA 11-year-old baseball team 

for winning the Global World Series 

Championship earlier this year. 

During the 4-day, 24-team tournament, the Mountain Home Bomb 

Squad suffered a first round loss, but 

went on to win six straight games. In 

the championship game, they defeated 

the Missouri Wildcats 10–1. This championship is a great source of pride for 

the entire Mountain Home, Arkansas, 

community. 

I’d like to commend the team manager, Dr. Eric Arp, and Coaches Tony 

Dibble and George Sitkowski for their 

leadership on the 11-and-under Global 

World Series Championship. Additionally, I would like to recognize players 

Garrett Steelman, Austin Mize, Clayton McManness, Luke Dibble, Sam Arp, 

Bradley Ludwig, Austin Helms, Luke 

Jackson, Jordan Anderson, Will 

Sitkowski and Luke Kruse for their 

leadership as well. 

Now that the Bomb Squad has 

brought a Global World Series trophy 

home to Mountain Home, I have no 

doubt that the players will set new, 

even higher goals to achieve. 

Congratulations once again to the 

Mountain Home Bomb Squad and the 

entire Mountain Home community for 

their Global World Series victory. 

b 1210 

PROTECT THE RIGHT TO VOTE 

(Ms. CHU asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Ms. CHU. Few things are as sacred as 

the right to vote. Generations have 

fought, bled, and died so that you and 

I can have a voice in our democracy. 

This is why we must guard against 

measures that take this away, like the 

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which 

prohibited all Chinese immigrants 

from becoming naturalized citizens so 

that they would not be able to vote. It 

lasted 60 years, until 1943, preventing 

people who’d lived in this country for 

decades from exercising their voices. 

Laws like this, poll taxes, or literacy 

tests, should be a thing of the past in 

America. Every U.S. citizen, no matter 

what their background, should have access to the polls. But today, State governments across the country are enacting laws making it much harder for as 

many as 5 million Americans to vote, 

requiring, for instance, photo IDs for 

grandmothers who voted for years but 

no longer drive. 

When barely half of Americans vote, 

we should not be erecting more barriers to democracy. We should be removing obstacles. We must protect the 

right to vote. 

f 

WHY FOCUS ON RED TAPE? 

(Mr. HULTGREN asked and was 

given permission to address the House 

for 1 minute.) 

Mr. HULTGREN. Madam Speaker, on 

Monday I hosted a jobs fair in the western suburbs of Chicago with several of 

my colleagues. Over 1,500 jobseekers 

showed up. 

I’ve visited with more than 100 northern Illinois business owners since I entered Congress. In each factory tour 

and office visit I ask: What would it 

take for you to create one more job, 

just to hire one more person? The answer is always the same: Cut red tape. 

The reality is 60 to 80 percent of all 

new jobs come from small businesses. 

Red tape throws an unfair burden on 

small businesses and paralyzes job creators. It has led to the least number of 

business start-ups in decades. 

There’s a reason we focus so much on 

rolling back red tape here in the House. 

It’s jobs. 

f 

GROUP A STREP INFECTIONS 

(Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York asked 

and was given permission to address 

the House for 1 minute.) 

Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York. 

Madam Speaker, I rise today to raise 

awareness of group A strep infection. A 

series of tragic events within my district have brought this pressing health 

situation to my attention. One of my 

constituents, Stephen Sweetman, a 

dedicated fireman, contacted my office 

after the deaths of his mother and his 

2-year-old son. 

Sean died just days after originally 

presenting with invasive strep A symptoms last February. After flying to 

New York for Sean’s wake, Mr. 

Sweetman’s mother died of group A 

strep infection just 14 days after her 

grandson. Both were originally 

misdiagnosed with a stomach bug. 

While medical diagnosis presents 

enormous challenges, especially for 

rare diseases, I am deeply concerned 

with the medical misidentifications 

which led to these terrible deaths. Recently, several of my colleagues and I 

sent a letter to the Appropriations 

Committee asking that we focus on 

this issue. 

I hope that we can come together to 

raise awareness for group A strep infections. 

f 

OBAMACARE COSTS—CBO 

CONFIRMS 

(Mr. STEARNS asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, the 

Congressional Budget Office came out 

with its report yesterday, their latest 

analysis of the President’s health bill, 

and what it confirms is there are flaws 

in the law. 

CBO reports that this $1.6 trillion 

program will cost individuals and businesses $5 billion more than was initially estimated. CBO says that the 

health premiums that they already 

predicted would increase by $2,100 now 

will increase even more. CBO estimates 

that 11 million people who currently 

have employer-based coverage will simply lose their health plan. 

The President said we could keep our 

coverage, but under the law, employers 

are dropping coverage, and premiums 

are simply increasing, which drives up 

the cost of health care for everyone. 

And remember, historically, the CBO 

greatly underestimates their analyses. 

We need to repeal this law and replace it with commonsense solutions 

that simply increase competition in 

the marketplace and places the consumer, not the government, in charge 

of health care. 

f 

GRANT AFFECTED STEEL WORKERS ELIGIBILITY FOR COMPENSATION 

(Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. HIGGINS. Madam Speaker, an 

alarming number of former employees 

at Bethlehem Steel in western New 

York are now suffering from cancer 

and other diseases due to radiation exposure as a result of having unknowingly worked with and around uranium 

during the Cold War. 

After a multiyear fight, and thanks 

to the determination of workers and 

their families, those who were employed at the site from 1949 to 1952 are 

eligible for $150,000 in compensation for 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with HOUSE